Alternative laminate adhesive?

[John/Charleston]

I am guessing we are talking about 18" +/- vertical laminate and if using a "thick" laminate......perhaps an adhesive is not necessary.(esp. given the "wonky walls")



You mention an electrician.........he is probably installing recepticals.......~ 4'-0" O.C.? & likely to the lower side of the 18" vertical.



Perhaps use the "thick" laminate variety and let the electrical cover plates be the mechanical clamp on the"low side" of the backsplash......(high side captive by uppers) & sparingly apply adhesive to any areas not otherwise clamped/captive.

This may result in a flatter/non deformed backsplash and also provide the oppotunity to selectively use adhesive should the need arise.

Best,
Charlie

I do expect to have the laminate pinned behind the cabs in most places and on top of that I intend to install the countertops after the splash so the back edge of the countertop will pin the bottom edge of the splash for the most part. Still, I'll feel better with glue behind the panels. I'm figuring on a notched trowel application so that should take up some unevenness in the walls.

I dont' do a lot of laminate and don't know thick from thin. This stuff seems like all the laminate I've ever handled.

[newman]

what about construction adhesive and staple masonite or luan panel to the drywall first, then the laminate?

[dave_k]

Formica tech help said that the EPA won't allow glues these days that will work with sheetrock due to the two materials reacting differently to temp/moisture changes. I found that a little hard to believe but I'm not a laminate specialist...

These days suppliers tap dance like crazy to avoid liability and I can't blame them. When something goes wrong in construction the sh!t is thrown into the fan and sticks to the guy with the least slime on them. This week I listened to a BASF rep's song and dance trying to shift blame on anyone but themselves after their epoxy coating failed to fully cure and the week before a gaggle of engineers tried to blame each other and anyone else in the building for a humidifier that went out of control caused massive condensation. There are cases out there where problems exist and no one is to blame because they all have their asses covered with boilerplate.

It's true that that adhesives have to allow for movement in dissimilar materials and technically the adhesives used today may not be up to Formica's legal department's idea of adequate. I don't think we are talking about a 4 storey, sun bathed atrium clad in formica. We are talking about a strip of p.lam, I doubt there is going to be enough movement to break the adhesive bond in this case.

Try gluing a strip of formica to drywall using PL premium (or whatever other kind of adhesive you want to use) and removing it 24 hours later. Formica will have covered their A$$ but I'm pretty sure the adhesive will have worked well enough to keep the p.lam on the wall for many years to come.

[John/Charleston]

My solution on this was to follow Wilson Art's suggestion and used a solvent based construction adhesive. The customer is happy and time will tell if she stays that way.

I'll add that I heard a lot about how any uneveness in the wall will telegraph thru the laminate but I really didn't find that to be the case with the construction adhesive applied with a notched trowel. It went up easily (tho a little bit messy) and looked fine afterwards even tho the wall I was working with was not all that smooth or flat. I think with contact cement it would have been a different story so in that way it was probably good that I was pushed to use a different adhesive.
Thanks for all help and opinions!

[Mr paint]

The old timers used to put contact adhesive on both wall and laminate and install them "wet" before they have a chance to tack up. This should allow ample time to manuver into place and still be able to move it. Adhesive will dry and hold into place.

Seen it done many times with no problems